Sheikh Said al-Masri, the man who held the third position in al-Qaida’s chain of command, was killed with members of his family in an American drone strike in Pakistan within the last two weeks, according to reports. –KA

Update: The White House commented on Tuesday on the news of al-Masri’s demise.

BBC:

US monitoring groups said a message from al-Qaeda posted on Islamist forums on 31 May said the militant’s wife, three of his daughters, his granddaughter, and other men, women, and children, were killed.

The message translated by the SITE group, which monitors Islamist websites, did not give any details about the circumstances of his reported death, other than to speak of his “martyrdom”.

“His death will only be a severe curse by his life upon the infidels. The response is near. That is sufficient,” said the message translated by SITE.

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